For me being a fan of something, is about having fun and finding the things that you like about your subject, to share with others and to embracing it. We therefore do not really like to talk about the bad stuff here often …. But for me it is important to stay as close to the truth as possible and to keep it real …….

It is really great news that Alex’s official Facebook page got verified a while ago. Now we all know that it is real and connected to him. At least we also now know that if there is anything posted on it, that it must be something coming from him. Although I still doubt if he will ever post anything personally on there. This Alex’s account: Alex O’Loughlin

Alex – Season 1 Promo – Face used in a manip

There sometimes seems to be confusion out there about the differences between fake accounts and fan accounts. This is how I evaluate it.

If somebody uses Alex’s name (or his character’s name) without adding anything as explanation in the title, I am already wary about their intentions.

If they add the word ‘Official‘ or ‘Real’ in there, I immediately regard them as fake accounts trying to impersonate Alex.

If they then also do not clearly state in their bio that they are a fanpage, they are clearly a fake account to me.

If they then post things, pretending to be Alex speaking and communicating with fans, as if they are him – they are definitely fake!

If they block people for commenting on their account or scream at people for saying they are fake – they definitely are fakes.

On set of TBUP – Face used in a manip

To me it is so funny that there are such a lot of ignorance out there. Strangely on our Facebook account the name, the bio and the things we post, never suggest we are Alex, but we still get messages from people who think we are him. Like us there are of course many other fan pages out there posting news and pictures of Alex. Most have his name as part of the page name – how else will people know it is about him? So please don’t go around scolding people who are not guilty of impersonation. Evaluate wisely.

– Why do we regard fake accounts as bad? Aren’t they just some fans trying to have fun and play pretend with other fans?

NO – because it is wrong to impersonate somebody. It creates confusing among new uninformed innocent and ignorant fans. Do they deserve to be fooled for their ignorance? Maybe, but Alex definitely does not deserved to let his name and image be tarnished by people who act as if they are his fans, by committing fraud by using his name for their own moment of fame ……

And I really think there is no fun in these people making fools of other fans who think they are actually chatting with the real Alex – especially like this on a fake account on his birthday.

(Click on the name to see the actual account)

officialalexoloughlin One of my best friends, born hours apart happy birthday buddy which was yesterday a day before mine #bookemdanno #feelingblessed

officialalexoloughlin Thank you for the birthday wishes yesterday

It is criminal and deceitful to impersonate anybody and use their name. And even more so, a celebrity and public figure like Alex (who you claim to love). Please don’t support these accounts by following and participating with them. Dear friends and fellow fans who should know better, why are you following these people – especially on Facebook and Twitter? Just this morning I saw a conversation in a group of a new fan who is thinking she is now friends with Alex and trying to argue with a longtime fan about believing one of these new “Alex O’Loughlin” name users on Facebook. It is truly sad that people are so desperate and gullible to belief these people!

Face used in a manip

And then there is the subject of Fanart vs fan”art”fakes

What do I regard as Fanart of Alex? – Any original picture of Alex used to create a different picture by either deleting parts adding backgrounds and anything else. There are so many versions of it and we all have our own tastes in regards to what we like or not. It is a wonderful expression of love for man – playing around with his beauty and for our pleasure.

What do I regards as fake pictures? – Picture where the artist chose to replace parts of Alex’s body with parts of someone elses body and making it look like a real picture and not like art of something funny. These pictures are then reposted as real pictures of Alex, mostly by fans who do not know better or worst of all by those who know, but do not care that they post fake pictures as real ones.

There are sooooo many beautiful real pictures of Alex, why do people have to keep on spreading manipulated fakes as real ones? 😦 And now fans are even using these fake picture manips to make their own in collages.

Here is the Pinterest board I created to help people detect these fakes and to compare them with original pictures.

If you wonder why I am some obsessed in being against these fanart fakes – just have a look on some boards of ‘Hollywood Hotties’, and there are all these gorgeous REAL pictures of Scott Caan, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Channing Tatum etc. All glorious to look at and drool over and most importantly real pictures of them. And then BAM , there are these fake pictures of Alex pinned there amongst it. Many of the boards only have that one picture of Alex on them – a fake one. 😦

These are an examples of such a boards:

I am posting quite a number of screencaps of such boards, just to drive home the pain I feel about them. Please click on the pictures to see them better. Can you spot the fakes pictures on there? None with descriptions that they are manips.

Normally the person whose board it is, is not a specific fan of Alex only – but oh, they are so glad they got all these ‘beauties’ from ‘REAL’ Alex fans, with boards dedicated just to him. But indeed these Alex fans “care” so much about him, that they find these fake pictures more gorgeous and sexy than the real man himself #sarcasm – AND I WANT TO CRY…….. Do we really want Alex to be represented with fake pictures, on boards named Hollywood Hunks?

And it is especially gets sad when these fakes pop up in collages with other real pictures of Alex ……

My aim is not to insult any of the people doing these art and/or collages – I am just making a plea to fans to please stop sharing and posting these fake pictures as REAL pictures on your boards and Alex group and Hawaii Five-0 boards. And please look through your boards and delete or relabel those that are already there. They really do not have a place with Alex’s name next to them. It really does not matter that you think they are sexy or pretty or whatever – THEY ARE NOT ALEX and should not be labeled as such – that is deceiving others!

With sincere apologies to the person who made this manip, but Alex’s head added in this picture on Scott’s friend Troy’s body, looks like a turtle with a long neck sticking out from under his shell (a suit 2 sizes too big). …. And please don’t confuse my gripe with this picture as some sort of hate for Alex and Scott together on pictures. There are so many great pictures of Alex and Scott together – why spread this “unfortunate” fake? If you need manips to define Alex and Scott’s friendship, you might just seem a bit desperate….

Alex and Scott are great friends and feel comfortable around each other and to be close to one another (as Alex also seems to feel around most of his co-stars and friends). They have also created great characters of two men who had to work together and not only became good friends, but became like two brothers who love each other dearly and feel comfortable to show that affection. To try to manip that relationship with fakes into something it is not, is also a bit desperate. Their friendship and characters actually inspired us a long time ago already to create a board on Pinterest, just of them. I am a bit lazy with pinning pictures and it needed some updating, but here is the link

The rest of the “famous” fake pictures also reminded me if some animals, so I decided to have some fun with my own ‘fanart’ as well.

Can you spot the similarities ….. 😕 ?

For me a man with fake short shiny forearms and no elbows and legs going the wrong way – is definitely not ‘santa’s gift to womankind’ or ‘Alex in his birthday suit’.

The real original pictures of other people used in these manips:

And the fakes:

And nobody can argue with Alex’s own words ……

“This is not my body, right”

– Alex O’Loughlin at the autograph signing

– the Grove,

16 September 2010

These fake pictures just do not belong on a board dedicated to Alex and posted with his name next to it as if they are real – you are deceiving other fans by doing it.

If you want to find some real shirtless pictures of Alex, have a look here

If you are looking for real pictures of Alex with his motorcycles, try here

If you are looking for real pictures of Steve/Alex in uniform, have a look here

We will try to update these boards with some more pictures – and as you can see from looking at all these pictures, there are no need or place for fake pictures at all.

Nearly 3 years ago when I ran the first 2 stories (Alex O’Loughlin ……Is the real man good enough for you?), complaining about these pictures, I got a ‘joyful’ reaction from some in the fandom #sarcasm. People who unfollowed us and criticized me for speaking up against fakes. Up to this day, it seems that some never forgave me. And even since then, whenever I tell fans that they are posting fake pictures, the reaction is very ‘warm’. #sarcasm. Go figure…… there are even some “Alex O’Loughlin” fans who have blocked me from commenting on their Pinterest accounts because of it – for speaking the truth? Guess that loving fake things are more important to some people, than liking something real of Alex.

Thank you very much for those fans who have responded positively and are actively helping to make these fakes go away. It is good to know there are still many fans who like to keep it real.

I want to stress it again – for me the issue is not who, where, why and how somebody made this pictures (they might have had a good reason at the time). It is about the fact that the pictures are perceived and shared as real pictures of Alex, when they are not. This is just a statement post about my own feelings and frustrations that I wanted to make, and for that reason this post will not be open for comments.